The Earth is on the verge of a crisis. Average global temperatures are rising, the ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, the landmass covered by deserts are increasing and animals are dying from plastic pollution. Here in the UK, Monday the 7th October marked the start of 2 weeks of protesting against climate change and more importantly what governments are going to do about it. The pressure on governments has been building, young activists such as Greta Thunberg have fronted a global awareness campaign aimed at climate change and what needs to happen here and now, not decades into the future. The evidence is there to suggest it’s working. Having space at the UN summit is extremely rare for such a young activist, but the work is not done until it’s done.

One of the hard-hitting facts that we have to realise is, it isn’t solely up to the governments or global leaders to combat climate change. Individuals and businesses need to be more aware of their own carbon footprint and that means making some changes to our daily lives.

It’s our responsibility as much as anyone else’s

We as a business, and as a manufacturer, were inspired by the climate protests earlier in 2019 and realised it is as much our duty as anyone else’s to help combat climate change and reduce our own carbon footprint. We sat down and discussed how we could be more responsible, and how we could do our bit. One of our key findings was our use of single-use plastics. To keep our goods safe on their journey from our manufacturer to the customer, many QDOS products were wrapped in a clear plastic protective bag, which unfortunately was single-use and not recyclable.

Another one of our findings was our use of plastic in the actual packaging of our products. Despite the packs being recyclable, even the plastics, customers would often throw these in general waste because they simply were not aware that we used recyclable plastics.

What have we changed?

From September 2019, we have removed all the single-use plastic protective bags from all our products and replaced them with fully recyclable plant-based plastics or paper-based solutions. And the product packaging itself? We have transitioned to full card and plant-based plastic recyclable solutions for the new iPhone launch, so to our customers, it is more obvious that they can be recycled with ease. With these small changes alone, we have prevented over one and a half tonnes of plastic from ever going into production in 2019.

The best thing about our new strategy is this is just the beginning. We’re not where we want to be in terms of reducing our carbon footprint, not even close, but going forward you can count on us to make sure with every product we produce, we will always think about how we can make our products and the business processes have less of an environmental impact.

Our first ECO-friendly case

The QDOS ECO caseis the jewel in the crown of our mission to reduce our carbon footprint. We have managed to develop a fully biodegradable case in 100% recyclable packaging without compromising on the style or integrity of a traditional smartphone case. Made from wheat-straw and a biodegradable PLA, we’ve managed to create a case that offers natural shock absorption with raised edges to protect the vulnerable screen, proving plant-based plastics can provide the traditional protection without causing additional environmental damage.

The product is free from harmful chemicals, so when you do decide to throw it on the compost heap to decompose, it won’t do so at the expense of the environment around it. How long does it take to decompose? 1 year in the right conditions. To put that into context, a traditional plastic case could be around for more than 100 years waiting to decompose.

We understand that changing the way you live isn’t easy, or cheap. We can offer you a helping hand if you decide to choose the QDOS ECO case by offering you £5 towards your order with the discount code ‘IPHONE’.